2003 Dodge Ram - Double Dualie

High payload capacity. That's the raison d'tre for a dualie and a useful quality for a vehicle such as this. It's not that Kelly Bise's '03 Dodge Ram dualie does heavy-duty hauling of wood or pulling boats. No, this truck has to carry a load of style and imagination with determination and flash. And it does its job well.

Originally, this truck was supposed to be finished and ready for paint in six weeks-just in time for Texas Heat Wave last year. But, the schedule was shortened to about a month, which forced most of the parties involved to work on the truck simultaneously. Kingpin Kustomz in Pearland, Texas, worked on much of the project,with exceptions made for Chris Sandoval at Down South Artworx in Houston, who painted the interior of the truck; Kelly Brown and Matt Cechinni at K&S Customs in Houston, who both laid on the exterior paints; H&H Auto Trim in Houston, which upholstered the seats; Mark Fehrle and Charles Rodgers at Slaughter House in Tomball, Texas, who both worked on the suspension; and DI Performance in Houston, which worked on the engine. Luckily, they all finished the job in time for the truck to drop jaws at the show.

Let's take a look at the end result. Starting from the front, there is a Dima grille unlike any you are likely to see. It looks like it was assaulted by an arrangement of chrome-handled throwing knives. A black-painted insert cuts the chrome down a bit on the front bumper. The rear bumper was replaced by a steel Sir Michaels roll pan, and you might see a Hidden Hitch back there, too, if you squint really hard. Also, the door handles were shaved. The coolest part, however, is the paint, which is PPG Black and House of Kolor Organic Green, Candy Red, Cobalt Blue, and Silver. The black body color was ripped away on the hood to reveal a checkered flag pattern, outlined in lightning. Red, blue, and green tribal graphics were rendered boldly, but sparingly, and trace across the rest of the truck. The motif continues along the doorjambs, underneath the hood, on the engine air intake and other engine components, and on the inner fenders. All of this paintwork took more than 1,000 hours of airbrush time.

The list of suspension mods made to this truck is long. Essentially, the stock front coils were cut off, and the frame was boxed. Stock upper control arm mounts were replaced by fabbed ones 5 inches higher than stock. One-off lower control arms use flipped lower ball joints built by Mark Fehrle, and the stock spindles were modified to accommodate the change. Gabriel front shocks helped to even out the rough spots on the road. In the rear, the hangers were relocated to the underside of the frame. A heavy-duty two-link was custom-built, and a diagonal link was used to keep the rear centered. Then, the rear axle was narrowed 9 inches. The truck was tubbed up front and step-notched in the rear, and then 'bagged with Firestones. Interestingly, the rear upper 'bag mounts were fashioned with chromed spikes, skulls, and tubing that swirl visibly from the Line-X bed, complemented by chromed shocks and a differential cover which completed the effect. Slaughter House also built a tranny crossmember, raised the gas tank 2-1/2 inches, put in two Thomas 337 air compressors, a 7-gallon air tank, four GC 450 valves, a 1/2-inch polished aluminum air line, a Firestone dual-needle gauge, and a smoothed and radiused bed floor with wheel tubs. Alcoa 24-1/2-inch wheels were trimmed by Dima to 24 inches and then wrapped by Cooper Zeon XST tires.